Walking the Tightrope 🕷 Peter Parker [2]

twelve

Peter

"He thinks he can just—just be her friend after everything he's done to us for the last couple of years! It's ridiculous!" Peter complained as he followed Mr. Stark through the chemical engineering lab in the Stark Industries compound. Cleanup was still working on trying to get a lot of the rubble cleared, but Mr. Stark wanted to make sure that a few things were still intact himself, plus it would give him and Peter a chance to talk for real.

Oh, and Peter and Mr. Stark were speaking to each other again.

Ever since the attack on the Stark Industries NYC branch the previous week, and since May had (sort of) forgiven Mr. Stark, Peter had been spending time around his mentor again. He wasn't exactly sure where their relationship was anymore, but it was better than nothing, he thought.

Peter wasn't entirely sure what Mr. Stark had said to May to get her to agree to Peter hanging out with him, but it must have been pretty good. Not all was entirely forgiven, of course, but they were on the right track, at the very least.

Mr. Stark chuckled slightly and turned to Peter, who looked extremely frustrated. "Y'know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're jealous," He said and Peter's ears grew hot.

"I'm not—jealous—"

Mr. Stark shrugged. "Hey, it's a normal emotion. Everybody gets jealous sometimes." Peter huffed and folded his arms over his chest as he and Mr. Stark made their way through the lab. "Look, kid, if you want my advice—"

"I never said that—"

"—if you want my advice, I would just leave it alone. If there's one thing girls hate, it's when guys get freaky jealous," He said. "Trust me, I know. Don't worry about it too much. Alex likes you a lot, right?"

Peter blushed a bit, glancing down at the floor and shrugging slightly. "Yeah, I guess..."

"She definitely does, if she didn't she wouldn't have put up with your geeky ass this long." Mr. Stark confirmed.

"Mr. Stark!"

He shrugged and leaned up against one of the lab tables. He folded his arms across his chest and looked at Peter curiously. "You said this—Flash kid—stupid name, by the way—is working with her on a History project, right?" He asked. Peter nodded. "Well then you're fine. School projects don't mean anything, not to Alex anyway. I can tell. She likes you, kid."

Peter stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked down. He knew that. He liked Alexandra, too. He liked her a lot. He wondered if he told her that as often as he should. "Hey, Mr. Stark?" His mentor glanced up at him with a raised eyebrow. "How—when did you first tell Ms. Potts..." He trailed off, unsure of how to ask this question without making a complete fool of himself.

Luckily, Mr. Stark seemed to already know what Peter was trying to ask. He walked over to one of the lab tables and began fiddling with a glass test tube. "Well, I always knew, it was just a matter of when to tell her," He began. "The first time I said it wasn't anything special, it was just the two of us, she was arguing with me over—well, I don't remember what. But I saw this—fire in her eyes. And I knew. And I told her." Tony looked at Peter and grinned. "My point is, kid, it doesn't have to be a big romantic gesture or anything, it just has to feel right."

Peter nodded, soaking up his advice. "Mr. Stark—that might be the best advice you've ever given me." The billionaire rolled his eyes and shoved Peter, who laughed. "Thank you, though—for real."

Mr. Stark smiled softly, careful not to let Peter see. "Anytime, Pete."

Peter saw anyway.

He pretended not to, just for Mr. Stark's sake.